Wednesday, April 06, 2011

County Championship Preview - Division 2: Kent

Too good to go down? Sadly that truism didn’t apply for Kent last season as they found themselves trapped in the Division 1 ejector seat. Can they bounce back at the first attempt?

Strengths

Despite mainly meagre returns last summer, Kent has a strong and talented batting line-up with the likes of Rob Key, Martin van Jaarsveld, Joe Denly, Darren Stevens, Geraint Jones and Sam Northeast. James Tredwell may not be quite international class, but he is a consistent performer at county level and should bag his fair share of wickets.

Weaknesses

The seam bowling stable doesn’t contain any thoroughbreds and thus doesn’t inspire confidence. That said the experienced Azhar Mahmood and Simon Cook may still have too much nous for Division 2 batsmen.

Main man

We’re huge fans of Robert Key at The Reverse Sweep – but despite his magnificent televised double hundred against Durham, Key had a poor season in 2010. Expect him to bounce back this season.

Look out for…

Sam Northeast has the talent, but struggled badly last year. As such this is a big season for him. Does he have what it takes?

Follow me on Twitter

See Amazon's latest deals

The Reverse Sweep has also appeared on:

Listen to Test Match Sofa

Love cricket but live aboard and can't get Sky or BBC Test Match Special? Or just looking for an alternative? Listen to live audio coverage of every single ball of England matches from Test Match Sofa, a new, free online radio station covering England games and major international cricket tournaments.